big song poppi

Chapter 521 0518 [Gold belt for murder and arson, no corpses for repairing bridges and roads]

After this period of treatment, Zhao Kai's condition improved a bit. Although he was still lying on the bed, he was not as confused as before. He was much more awake, but his body was still relatively weak and he needed to rest and recuperate for a few days.

Zhao Ji still loves this son very much.

Moreover, the other children are all in Bianjing City, and Zhao Kai will be needed to inherit the throne in the future.

Since Kou Zhongwen was promoted, in order to maintain his favor and please Zhao Ji, he has been thinking about how to make money all day long.

The people have no choice.

They have all become poor, with no money or water to exploit, and they have to feed themselves for a while.

So, he set his sights on wealthy landowners and businessmen.

Of course, Kou Zhongwen did not dare to touch the gentry and gentry who had connections between the DPRK and China, but those landlords and wealthy businessmen who had some connections, but not many, suffered.

In order to make money, Kou Zhongwen went to great lengths to rectify the "Tian Sheng Order" promulgated by Liu E that year.

You can't rob openly, then wouldn't that make you a bandit?

There is a decree in the "Tian Sheng Order": after a slave has served for ten years, he can automatically become free without the owner's permission or any formalities, and the owner cannot hinder him, otherwise he will be punished with a serious crime.

The original intention of this decree was good. After all, it was jointly compiled by Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu and other ministers.

However, due to the laziness of officials, corruption of subordinate staff, and lack of supervision, this decree gradually became a decoration.

And now, who among the landowners and wealthy merchants doesn’t have a few slaves?
A sure one when caught!

As Kou Zhongwen's new henchman, Li Wenqing led the government servants every day to check on slaves from house to house.

Once caught, those landowners and wealthy businessmen would lose their money at least to eliminate disasters, or their families and families would be destroyed at worst.

……

To the northwest of Xi'an County, there is a Shahe Village fifteen miles away.

Shahezhuang is a large village with more than 300 households.

The largest landowner in Zhuangzi was named Zhong. During Zhezong's reign, his family had a Jinshi who was promoted to the county magistrate.

Relying on their connections in the officialdom, the Zhong family has lived quite well these years.

Although it was unavoidable to be beaten by local officials, fortunately, those officials were still restrained and did not go too far, and it would be over if they tolerated it.

But today, in the large house built with green bricks and gray tiles by the river, there were faint sounds of crying.

Mrs. Liu, the old woman outside Zhong Yuan, was slumped on the ground and wailing loudly.

Mr. Zhong stood aside and explained with a gray face: "Mr. Zhang, please be merciful. Many people sell their sons and daughters these days. Who doesn't have a few slaves? I'm not harsh on weekdays. I take care of food and housing. They are paid monthly and receive rewards during the holidays, which is no different from ordinary servants."

Generally speaking, landowners and gentry care about reputation.

After all, it is rooted in the village, and its ancestors and descendants have grown up here. If its reputation is bad, it will be troublesome.

Therefore, in order to maintain the reputation of the family, whether it is true or false, one will not be too harsh on the servants of the family.

Even the kings of Xiaowang Village are stingy at best and don't let their servants have enough to eat.

After all, they are only a handful who are beaten, scolded, and abused at every turn.

Moreover, the Zhong family prides itself on being a scholarly family, and cultivating and studying to pass down the family will only pay more attention to reputation.

Zhang Langzhong sat upright on the Taishi chair and said with a straight face: "Exceptor Zhong, whether it is true or false, these have nothing to do with me. There are orders from the top, and I am only doing things in accordance with the law. There are five slaves in your family who have exceeded the age limit. But he was still forced to stay at home. According to the law, he was fined five thousand catties of copper and sentenced to three years of hard labor. "

The fine was 5,000 jins of copper, which was actually not bad, just over 1,000 jins.

I'm just afraid of having to do hard labor there for three years!
Corvee service can be roughly divided into two types, forced service and military service.

Labor means doing hard work, building city walls, building bridges, paving roads, digging canals, building embankments, etc.

Military service involves joining the army or accompanying soldiers and civilians, and is responsible for escorting grain, grass, and luggage.

No matter which one it is, the mortality rate is extremely high. Even if you are young and strong, it will be difficult to survive, let alone the old bones of old member Zhong.

Basically, once you go, it’s hard to come back.

Moreover, if Zhong Yuanwai leaves, his huge family fortune will be immediately embezzled, and everyone will be ruined.

Seeing the cold expression on the face of Mr. Zhang who was always smiling and the firm tone, Mr. Zhong immediately understood that there was no way to escape this time.

Officer Zhong gritted his teeth and said with an implicit threat: "Mr. Zhang, you should know that my Erlang is studying at Songxi Academy, and his classmate is the son of Jianzhou Tongpan." "Hahaha!"

Zhang Langzhong seemed to have heard a big joke and burst into laughter.

After a moment, he slowly stopped smiling and said sternly: "Not to mention a small Jianzhou general magistrate, even a Fujian road transfer envoy, you can't escape this corvee!"

Although he was an intermediary Cao Langzhong, it was Kou Zhongwen who was the deputy prime minister who issued the order.

"This……"

Zhong Yuanwai was stunned. He didn't expect that he had moved all the Jianzhou Tongpan out, but it was of no use at all.

Zhang Langzhong said coldly: "I am not hiding anything from you. This matter is handled by Kou Xiang."

Officer Zhong was startled, and then he said quietly: "Could it be... is there no room for maneuver at all?"

Zhang Langzhong said with a faint smile: "There is no room for improvement. The sage said: Knowing your mistakes can make a lot of improvements."

Hearing this, Zhong Yuanwai immediately understood that he was asking for money.

But it's better than losing your life, just think of it as a loss of money.

Thinking of this, Zhong Yuanwai said: "Yes, yes, what Zhang said is true. Lao Zhuo will let the five servants go home and donate five...8,000 guan to build bridges, pave roads and build schools." Abandon."

"Ah."

Zhang Langzhong smiled and said nothing.

Seeing this scene, Zhong Yuwai's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Not satisfied with eight thousand strings?
You know, his entire net worth, including his fields and shops in the city, totals only 30,000 guan, and 8,000 guan is almost all the free money he can afford.

Officer Zhong gritted his teeth and stamped his feet, and said cruelly: "Twelve thousand strings!"

The worst case scenario is selling the shop in the city.

Zhang Langzhong remained silent and sipped his tea silently.

Mr. Zhong was anxious: "Doctor Zhang, please leave some room for us so that we can meet again in the future."

Zhang Langzhong sneered, stood up suddenly and said: "Ah, I was thinking about our past friendship and wanted to find a way for you to make a living, but you taught me a lesson. That's all, I am just being sentimental. If someone comes, I will Officer Zhong was taken away and sent to the Shengjie Army for military service. "

As soon as the words fell, two fast-track catchers strode over with wooden shackles and iron chains in their hands, grinning ferociously.

Officer Zhong was so frightened that he quickly bowed and said, "Wait a minute, I just made a fool of myself because of the lard. I made a mistake and apologized to Dr. Zhang."

Zhang Langzhong winked at the two detectives, and they immediately stopped.

"I would like to donate 18,000...two..."

Zhong Yuanwai looked at Zhang Langzhong's expression while slowly raising the price.

Seeing that the other party remained expressionless, Mr. Zhong's heart sank a little bit.

Until this moment, he completely understood.

The other party is trying to break his bones and suck out his marrow, completely draining his Zhong family.

After figuring out the connection, Mr. Zhong laughed miserably and said dejectedly: "That's all, my Zhong family's property will be donated. I just hope that Mr. Zhang can leave a few acres of land for Lao Zhuo to make a living."

Zhang Langzhong smiled and said, "That's right. Money is something external to one's body. Erlang of the Zhong family is a scholar. He can't say he will be a high school scholar next year."

"Borrow me some lucky words from Dr. Zhang."

Zhong Yuanwai smiled bitterly and cupped his hands.

Zhang Langzhong acted quickly and immediately sent people to evacuate the Zhong family, and at the same time transferred the land deeds and shops under his name.

In the evening, Zhang Langzhong took the people away with satisfaction.

In the huge Zhong family, there is only an empty house left.

In just one day, Zhong Yuanwai became much older. He sat in the hall and sighed: "Beast, beast! I, the Zhong family, farm and study family inheritance, be kind to others, build bridges and pave roads, and benefit the village. There are many folks in the village. The difficulty was that I didn’t lend a helping hand, but ended up like this.”

"The top is corrupt and the bottom is corrupt, and they will do anything to make money. How could the Song Dynasty survive? No wonder it was driven south by Qi. It deserves it!"

Just in line with that sentence, there are no corpses in the gold belt when killing people and setting fires, and repairing bridges and roads.

(End of this chapter)